


Things We Do Not Speak Of

by elysichor



Category: The Village (2004)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-03 00:37:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4079920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elysichor/pseuds/elysichor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ivy has returned from the city with the medicines for Lucius--but will it be enough?  And what of Noah--where has he gone?  Furthermore, what is Ivy to do now that she is the only one who knows the Elders' secrets?  Basically a continuation of the movie, a what-should-have-happened type of deal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things We Do Not Speak Of

“Lucius…I have returned.”

Her hands were filthy with mud and blood, but she grasped his anyway, knowing he wouldn’t mind. Her blind eyes, red from crying, searched the void before her for any sign of his spark, his color, her lantern in the darkness.

“Lucius.” She gave his arms a little shake, her smile never faltering. Her heart was still pounding with adrenaline and emotion; she had actually done it. She had made it through the forest, found the city, and retrieved the medicine. Lucius would be saved, and the two of them would be married. All was as it should be.

“Lucius.” She shook him again, but he still was unresponsive.

“Ivy,” Doctor Victor said gently, “Perhaps if you let me treat him, he will awaken sooner.”

“Oh!” Ivy exclaimed, standing. “Oh, yes, of course.” She stepped back and clasped her hands expectantly.

“Ivy, darling,” her father spoke for the first time, “This will no doubt take a while. Why don’t you get cleaned up and changed while you wait? I am sure the sight will be a great deal easier on Lucius when he awakens; seeing you so abused-looking might very well kill him all over again.”

“Certainly,” Ivy smiled at him, then frowned thoughtfully. “I dropped my cane in the woods,” she said. “I shall need an escort. I know Noah usually does it, but...I would like someone else to this time.”

No one said anything, but she could sense the sudden change in the atmosphere, and it chilled her blood. “What? What is it?”

“Nothing,” her father said. “My dear, your sister has been worried sick about you. She will be more than happy to escort you home and help you freshen up.”

“Of course,” Ivy replied, but her eyes were narrowed in suspicion. Her father was keeping something from her—but after baring every horrible secret the Elders had, what could there be that he still sought to keep from her?

She spoke none of this, of course. Even after all that had transpired, she still trusted her father absolutely. She didn’t quite understand the why, when, and where of the Elders’ secret, but she told herself it was not her place to question it.

She was guided by her father to the door, and then sat on the porch, trying not to pay too much attention to what was going on behind her. She could hear them bustling about, the clink of the medicine bottles, and Doctor Victor murmuring words she could not decipher. She was focused so intently on not focusing that she was thoroughly startled by the pair of cold hands that grasped her face. A shuddering gasp and wail of “Oh, _Ivy_!” told her that Kitty had arrived. She grasped her sister’s wrists and said, “Kitty, please don’t fret. I’m fine.”

“ _Fine_!” Kitty admonished. “You’ve been through an ordeal, darling.” She took one of Ivy’s hands in her own and patted it. “Come along. You’re filthy and scratched up; we can’t have you looking like this when Lucius wakes, can we?”

Ivy gave a giddy smile. “No, I suppose not.” She stood and allowed her sister to lead her to their house. She needed no help in navigating their house, and made her way to the washroom while Kitty laid out a fresh dress for her, chatting away all the while.

“Christoph told me of your bravery,” she said. “He said that although you were faced directly with Those We Do Not Speak Of, you never once faltered. He commended your strength and spirit.”

Ivy felt a twinge of annoyance at this. So Christoph, he who had deserted her in the forest, was spinning tales based on what everyone was saying about her journey. The craven hadn’t been there for any of it; but she could never tell Kitty that. Instead of replying, she splashed water on her face and sighed at the pleasant sensation of the dirt and grime washing away. She really hadn’t realized just how filthy she was.

“I’ve drawn a bath for you as well,” Kitty called as an afterthought, and sure enough when Ivy felt in the metal tub it was full of warm water. She shut the door and shed her clothes, then slid into the water with a sigh.

Here, secluded in silence, she was given a chance to reflect. Noah. Lucius. The Elders’ secret. She had been so suddenly burdened with so much it made her head ache. She pondered Noah’s fate; now that Lucius was to recover, his punishment would not be so severe…but with a terrible pain in her heart, Ivy thought that things would never be the same between them. Perhaps the most awful part was that Noah would not understand why.

She pressed her hands to her face, delayed emotion overwhelming her. 

Alone in the washroom, where no one could see her, she cried silently—from shock, anger, anguish, and relief, all at once. She kept her cries quiet, let them only be shown in her shaking shoulders. All she needed was for Kitty to hear her crying and start mothering her again. Although younger, Ivy was often the ‘strong’ daughter; stricken blind at a young age, she was forced to grow up rather quickly, and hardly ever let herself show extreme emotion.

“Ivy?” A knock on the door. “How much longer do you think you’ll be?”

Ivy took a shuddering breath, splashed water on her face to wash away the tears, and called in as normal a voice as she could manage, “I’ll be out in a moment, Kitty.”

“Let me know if you need help with anything,” her sister replied cheerfully.

Ivy quickly washed, dried, and walked back into her room, where Kitty guided her to the dress. Ivy handed off her old dress to Kitty, who sighed in disapproval. “Running through that forest did a number on this dress,” she murmured, almost to herself. “I can try to mend it, but I shan’t promise anything.”

“Thank you anyway, Kitty,” Ivy said as she pulled the new dress over her head. Kitty fussed over her, straightening her collar, shifting the sleeves, fidgeting with every tiny little detail. It made Ivy uneasy; now her sister was to be counted among those acting strange since her return. It was a given, of course, that the journey of one blind girl into the woods (and to the city, no less) would certainly cause some excitement; but this was different. This was the feeling of someone hiding something from her, and if Kitty was in on it too…well, that made the prospects all that more dire.

“Kitty,” Ivy said, placing her hands on her sister’s upper arms, “Be truthful with me. What has transpired in my absence that has everyone acting so strangely?”

Kitty hesitated, her busy hands going still. She was a person whose emotions showed plainly in every one of her features, which made it all the more unfair for Ivy to ask her something like this.

“Well,” she said in a regretful way, “There was an…incident. As—as you know, Noah was locked in the Quiet Room, both for his safekeeping and ours. Well…you know Noah, know how he hates it in there, and the poor thing didn’t understand why he was being punished.”

An icy chill crept up Ivy’s spine and her hands gripped Kitty’s shoulders. “Kitty, _what happened_?”

“He escaped,” Kitty whispered fearfully. “Broke his way through the wall; how on Earth he managed that I don’t know. He hasn’t been seen since.”

“Why have the alarm bells not been sounded?” Ivy demanded. “Why are the people not inside their homes, or better yet their shelters? Why is everyone out and about as if nothing has happened?” she was shaking slightly, her hands now balled into fists at her sides.

“Because…he’s _Noah_ ,” Kitty answered softly.

“He’s a murderer,” Ivy snapped. “Or at least he nearly was.”

There was a brief pause, and when Kitty spoke she had hardness in her voice.

“He attacked Lucius because he is in love with you, Ivy. Never in his life had he shown any sort of malignance towards anyone until then; I doubt he even fully understood what he was doing when he attacked Lucius. One thing is for sure, though: he will not attack anyone else.”

“What of Lucius, then?” Ivy protested. “How are we to know whether or not he will return and try to finish him off?”

Kitty was quiet for a moment. “The way you are speaking is making me sick to my stomach,” she said in an uncharacteristically curt way. “You have been close to Noah longer than any of us. Think of whom you are speaking.”

The rustle of skirts and a rush of air signified Kitty’s abrupt departure, leaving Ivy standing alone in her room. She sat on her bed and tried not to cry. How could Kitty side against her in this? It was obvious that justice had to be done.

When one is blind, the passing of time becomes almost superfluous. She hadn’t any idea how long she had sat there in a miserable fog when the front door swung open and her father’s radiant hue burst forth. She hurriedly got to her feet and rushed to meet him, certain he was bringing news of Lucius. “Papa, how is he?”

“Unconscious still, but better,” he replied, hugging her. “We will have a wedding here, mark my words, Ivy Walker.”

Ecstatic, she threw her arms around him and cried out for joy, but her rejoicing was put on hold when her father lowered his voice and said solemnly, “There’s something you need to know.”

“Is it about Noah?” Ivy asked quietly, and sensed his surprise. “Kitty told me he escaped,” she explained. “Have you captured him?”

Silence. Then, “Come with me, Ivy.”

The tone of his voice frightened her more than anything thus far. It was quiet, grave, lifeless. Something terrible had happened, and he was wishing to God he didn’t have to tell his daughter.

She wordlessly followed him out of their house and across the village square. The more they walked, the more certain she was of their destination: the Percys’ house. How many times had she taken this path there? Whatever the number, it was one of the few places in the village she needed no assistance in getting to. How ironic that this was perhaps her last time ever visiting it.

When outside the front door, Ivy could hear a woman’s sobs coming from inside—understandable, she thought. What mother _wouldn’t_ be crying after her son had attempted murder and then fled?

Her father knocked on the door lightly, and it was opened by Noah’s father, his eyes red around the edges. He wordlessly showed them in, then closed the door and returned to the side of his sobbing wife.

“I apologize for intruding at a time like this,” Ivy’s father said quietly. “She needs to know.”

“Of course,” Noah’s mother choked out. “They—they were always so close…oh, _God_ …” she pressed her hands to her face and began a fresh round of sobbing.

“He’s on the bed, over in the corner,” Mr. Percy said, and briefly Ivy wondered why Noah was lying in bed instead of in the Quiet Room, when it hit her and the breath left her chest.

Lucius had a color. Her father did, as well. In fact, it was the omnipresence of her father’s hue that had delayed her realization that Noah Percy was here, and she could not see his color.


End file.
